Conventionally, in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, micro-processing by lithography using a photoresist composition has been carried out. The micro-processing is a processing method including forming a thin film of a photoresist composition on a substrate to be processed, such as silicon wafer, irradiating actinic rays such as ultraviolet rays through a mask pattern on which a pattern for a semiconductor device is depicted, developing it to obtain a resist pattern, and etching the substrate to be processed, such as silicon wafer using the resist pattern as a protective film. However, in recent progress in high integration of semiconductor devices, there has been a tendency that shorter wavelength actinic rays are being used, i.e., ArF excimer laser beam (wavelength 193 nm) and further F2 excimer laser (wavelength 157 nm) have been taking the place of KrF excimer laser beam (wavelength 248 nm). Along with this change, influences of random reflection and standing wave off a substrate have become serious problems. Accordingly, it has been widely studied to provide an anti-reflective coating between the photoresist and the substrate to be processed (Bottom Anti-Reflective Coating, BARC).
As the anti-reflective coating, inorganic anti-reflective coatings made of titanium, titanium dioxide, titanium nitride, chromium oxide, carbon or α-silicon, etc. and organic anti-reflective coatings made of a light-absorbing substance and a polymer compound are known. The former requires an installation such as a vacuum deposition apparatus, a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) apparatus or a sputtering apparatus. In contrast, the latter is considered advantageous in that it requires no special installation so that many studies have been made. For example, mention may be made of the acrylic resin type anti-reflective coating having a hydroxyl group being a crosslinking reaction group and a light absorbing group in the same molecule and the novolak resin type anti-reflective coating having a hydroxyl group being a crosslinking reaction group and a light absorbing group in the same molecule (see, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,919,599 and 5,693,691).
The physical properties desired for organic anti-reflective coating materials include high absorbance to light and radioactive rays, no intermixing with the photoresist layer (being insoluble in photoresist solvents), no diffusion of low molecular substances from the anti-reflective coating material into the topcoat resist upon coating or heat-drying, and a higher dry etching rate than the photoresist (see, for example, Tom Lynch et al., “Properties and Performance of Near UV Reflectivity Control Layers”, US, in Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XI, Omkaram Nalamasued., Proceedings of SPIE, 1994, Vol. 2195, p. 225-229; G. Taylor et al., “Methacrylate Resist and Antireflective Coatings for 193 nm Lithography”, US, in Microlithography 1999: in Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XVI, Will Conleyed., Proceedings of SPIE, 1999, Vol. 3678, p.174-185; and Jim D. Meador et al., “Recent Progress in 193 nm Antireflective Coatings, US, in Microlithography 1999: in Advances in Resist Technology and Processing XVI, Will Conleyed., Proceedings of SPIE, 1999, Vol. 3678, p. 800-809).
In addition, is known a material for undercoat in lithography comprising a nitrogen-containing compound with an amino group substituted with a hydroxyalkyl group or an alkoxyalkyl group (see, for example Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. 2000-221689 and 2000-284491).